Band-shaped fitting for bicycle, mounted on component of bicycle

Abstract: A protrusion of corrugation in a ridge (3) provided at one end (9) of a first fitting body (2) is engaged with one of recesses in a plurality of grooves (6) provided at one end (17) of second fitting body (5) in the lengthwise direction, whereby the degree of overlapping between first fitting body (2) and second fitting body (5) is adjusted. Then, the other end (4) of first fitting body (2) and the other end (7) of second fitting body (5) engaging with the recesses and protrusions of a fluted portion of sensor portion (28) are fixed with a fixing screw (42). Thus, the other end (4) of first fitting body (2) and the other end (7) of second fitting body (5) are drawn near to each other, and a fitting for bicycle (1) is firmly fixed to fork (34).

Description: The present invention relates generally to fittings for bicycle, and more specifically, to a fitting for bicycle for mounting a device for bicycle such as a meter and a sensor on a component of a bicycle such as a handle and fork. In recent years, bicycles are sometimes provided with speed meters so that cyclists can be easily informed of travel speed, travel distance or the like. Fig. 6 is a side view showing such a speed meter mounted on a bicycle, Fig. 7 is a view showing encircled portion "X" in Fig 6 being enlarged, and Fig. 8 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII in Fig. 7. Referring to Figs. 6 and 7, a speed meter 30 is mounted on the stem 31 of the handle of a bicycle 24. Front spokes 32 of bicycle 24 are provided with a magnet 26, and the portion of fork 34 corresponding to magnet 26 is provided with a sensor portion 28 for generating a signal every time magnet 26 passes in front of it. The signal generated by sensor portion 28 is input to speed meter 30 through a cord 11, various operations are performed based on the signal in the meter, and information such as speed and travel distance is given to the user. Now, referring to Fig. 8, how sensor portion 28 is mounted on fork 34 will be described. A fitting for bicycle 36 for mounting sensor portion 28 on fork 34 includes a band-shaped fitting body 38 which can be engaged with the grooves and ridges of the fluted portion of sensor 28 on the outer periphery of one open end 25, a packing 40 fit along the inner circumference of fitting body 38, and a fitting screw 42 for fixing one end 25 of fitting body 38 engaged with sensor portion 28 and the other end 27. Packing 40 is fit along the inner circumference of band-shaped fitting body 38, then both ends of fitting body 38 are opened to be fit around fork 34, and packing 40 will be fit along the inner circumference of fitting body 38 and the outer circumference of fork 34. Sensor portion 28 and the grooves and ridges of the fluted portion at one end 25 of fitting body 38 are engaged with each other, and then the one end 25 and the other end 27 of fitting body 38 and sensor portion 28 are fixed by fitting screw 42. Fitting body 38 is lightened to forks 34 through packing 40, and therefore sensor portion 28 will be fixed to fork 34 by means of fitting for bicycle 36. Meanwhile, unlike such fitting for bicycle 36 using the fitting screw and the packing, there are fittings for bicycle of cord band type. Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing how a sensor portion is mounted on a fork with a conventional fitting for bicycle of cord band type, Fig. 10 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line X-X in Fig. 9, and Fig. 11 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line XI-XI in Fig. 9. Referring to Figs. 9 to 11, a fitting for bicycle of cord band type 44 for mounting a sensor portion 29 on a fork 34 includes an integral structure of cord band portions 46a, 46b having a shape like a cord band for bundling the cord of an electrical appliance, and a sensor portion 29. Cord band portion 46b has grooves and ridges of corrugation lengthwise on its outer circumference, and an engaging portion 48 having a protrusion 45 which can be engaged with one of the grooves of the corrugation is provided at an end of cord band portion 46a. When mounted, engaging portion 48 is manually pressed and the end of cord band portion 46b on the side having the grooves and ridges of corrugation is pulled through engaging portion 48. Thus, the protrusion 45 of engaging portion 48 is gradually engaged with a groove of corrugation of cord band portion 46b near sensor portion 29, then the inner circumference of cord band portion 46b is pressure-contacted to fork 34 and sensor portion 29 is fixed to fork 34. There are more than one kinds of shapes for the fork of a bicycle, and the forks of so-called mountain bikes are for example often larger than the forks of sports bikes. The former fitting for bicycle with a fitting screw and a packing can be adapted to forks of different sizes by changing the thickness of the packing to a limited extent, and fittings of different sizes such as large, medium and small must be usually prepared for one component for bicycle. Meanwhile, the latter fitting for bicycle of cord band type can cope with forks of different sizes by adjusting the degree of tightening the cord band portion. However, since it is tightened in a stepped manner by each groove of corrugation, fine adjustment such as done with the screw type cannot be made. If the protrusion in engagement with one of the grooves of the corrugation is forced to engage with another groove closer to the sensor portion, the cord band portion can be cut away from the sensor portion. Furthermore, since the engaging force between the protrusion and the groove of the corrugation of cord band portion engaging therewith at the engagement portion is constant, tightening too much degrades the reliability of the engaged portion. EP-A-0 125 158 discloses a band-shaped fitting appropriate to be mounted on a component of a bycicle, comprising a band-shaped main body, a protrusion or recess formed at a first end of the main body and a plurality of recesses or protrusions formed at a second end of the main body in the lenghtwise direction of the main body. The plurality of protrusions or recesses at the second end of the main body is engageable with the recess or protrusion at the first end of the main body. Thus the band-shaped fitting is tightened in a stepped manner and fine adjustment also cannot be made. It is therefore an object of the invention to solve the above-described problems, and to provide a fitting for bicycle which can cope with bicycle components such as fork of different sizes with a single fitting body and a single packing, and permits tightening by fine adjustment. It is provided a fitting for bicycle of cord band type allowing high reliability at the engaged portion. A band-shaped fitting for bicycle to be mounted on a component of a bicycle according to one aspect of the invention includes a first fitting body having a shape fit along part of the outer circumference of the component and having a protrusion or recess at its one end, a second fitting body having a shape fit along part of the outer circumference of the component and having a plurality of recesses or protrusions each engageable with the protrusion or recess at its one end and in the lengthwise direction, overlapping adjustment means for adjusting the degree of overlapping between the first fitting body and the second fitting body, and means for drawing near the other end of the first fitting body and the other end of the second fitting body. Therefore, according to this aspect of the invention, the protrusion or recess provided at one end of the first fitting body is engaged with one of recesses or protrusions provided at one end of the second fitting body, the degree of overlapping is adjusted, the other end of the first fitting body and the other end of the second fitting body are drawn near to each other, and a device for bicycle can be mounted on a bicycle. A band-shaped fitting for bicycle to be mounted on a complement of a bicycle according to another aspect of the invention includes a band-shaped main body, a protrusion or recess formed at one end of the main body, a plurality of recesses or protrusions formed at the other end and in the lengthwise direction of the main body and each engageable with the protrusion or recess, and engagement means for engaging the protrusion or recess with one of the recesses or protrusions and increasing force for engaging the protrusion or recess with the recess or protrusion in response to a reaction from a component generated when tightening the main body to the component. Therefore, according to this aspect of the invention, the force of engaging the protrusion or recess formed at the one end of the main body with one of the recesses or protrusions formed at the other end and in the lengthwise direction can be increased in response to the reaction generated when tightening the main body to the component of the bicycle. A description of embodiments of the present invention is given as follows in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view for use in illustration of how a sensor portion is mounted on a fork with a fitting for bicycle according to one embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line II-II in Fig. 1 showing a sensor portion mounted on a fork with a fitting for bicycle; Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line III-III in Fig. 2 showing the sensor portion mounted on the fork with the fitting for bicycle; Fig. 4 is an enlarged view showing portions "Y" in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line V-V in Fig. 2 showing the fitting for bicycle; Fig. 6 is a side view showing a speed meter mounted on a bicycle; Fig. 7 is an enlarged view showing portion "X" in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII in Fig. 7; Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing a sensor portion mounted on a fork with a conventional cord-band type fitting for bicycle; Fig. 10 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line X-X in Fig. 9; and Fig. 11 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line XI-XI in Fig. 9. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a fitting for bicycle 1 includes a first fitting body 2 and a second fitting body 5 having their one ends engaged with each other to form a band shape, a packing 8 provided along the inner circumference of first fitting body 2 and the outer circumference of a fork 34, and a fitting screw 42 for fixing the other end 4 of first fitting body 2, and the other end 7 of second fitting body 5 in engagement with the (saw-toothed) grooves and ridges of a fluted portion of a sensor body 28. Referring to Figs. 3 to 5, fitting for bicycle 1 will be described in more detail. One end 9 of first fitting body 2 which is hollow inside has a first member 15 to be fit along fork 34 having a plate shaped elastic body 10 defined by a U-shaped opening 12 as illustrated in Fig. 5 and a second member 18 raising opposite to first member 15 at a prescribed distance are overlapped with each other as shown in the side view in Fig. 2. More specifically, one end 9 of first fitting body 2 is formed of a hollow body 18. The elastic body 10 of first member 15 includes a protrusion 3 having a ridge of corrugation formed in a first inner surface portion 21 of hollow body 18 as illustrated in Fig. 4, and the thickness of protrusion 3 is larger than the other portion of elastic body 10 in other words the portion surrounded by line 13, line 14 and opening 12. Elastic body 10 which is formed of an elastic material such as plastic is capable of pivot elastically around line 14. Meanwhile, one end 17 of second fitting body 5 is formed of a plate member 19, and is provided with a plurality of grooves 6 having recesses engageable with the ridge 3 of corrugation of protrusion of first fitting body. In order to fix sensor portion 28 to fork 34, one end 17 of second fitting body 5 is partially inserted into one end 9 of first fitting body 2. Packing 8 is then provided along the inner circumference of first fitting body 2, and first fitting body 2 and second fitting body 5 are engaged with each other at a prescribed position of fork 34. When one end 17 of second fitting body 5 extending from one end 2 of first fitting body 2 is pulled in this state, as elastic body 10 of first fitting body 2 elastically moves every time the protrusion of ridge 3 and the recess of grove 6 are engaged with each other, the degree of overlapping between one end 9 of first fitting body 2 and one end 17 of second fitting body 5 is adjusted. Thus, first fitting body 2 and second fitting body 5 are fit along the outer circumference of fork 35 with packing 8 partly therebetween. As the other end 7 of second fitting body 5 and the grooves and ridges of the fluted portion of sensor portion 28 are engaged with each other, fitting screw 42 is fixed, whereby the other end 7 of second fitting 5 and the other end 4 of first fitting body 2 are brought closely to each other, and sensor portion 28 is fixed to fork 34. The degree of fixation is determined by force for engaging the protrusion in the ridge 3 of first fitting body 2 with the recess in the groove 6 of second fitting body 5 and the degree of tightening fitting screw 42. Therefore, as illustrated in Fig. 4, the thickness of ridge 3 of first fitting body 2 is made larger than the thickness of the other portion of elastic body 10. Thus, as the degree of overlapping between first fitting body 2 and second fitting body 5 increases, reacting F from fork 34 which relatively increases particularly acts strongly upon the outer surface portion 21 of hollow body 18 corresponding to the ridge 3 of elastic body 10, part of second member 16 which is the inner portion 22 of hollow body 18 is pressure-contacted to plate member 17, and the force of engaging one of the recesses of second fitting body 5 and the protrusion of first fitting body 2 increases. As described above, first fitting body 2 and second fitting body 5 are overlapped with each other, and the adjustment which cannot be coped with the stepped adjustment with the protrusion in the ridge of first fitting body 2 and the recess in the groove of second fitting body 5 can be made using fitting screw 42, and therefore a device for bicycle such as a sensor can be y mounted to components of bicycles such as fork having different sizes. Note that although the invention has been described by way of illustrating an embodiment for mounting a sensor on the fork of a bicycle, the invention is not limited thereto, and in any device other than a sensor may be mounted, or a device may be mounted on another component of a bicycle such as a handle rather than the fork. Although a plurality of recesses are provided inside the second fitting body and in the lengthwise direction, a plurality of recesses may be provided outside such as the case of a fitting for bicycle of band type as described in conjunction with the conventional case. Furthermore, the protrusion of the first fitting body corresponds to the ridge of corrugation, the number of which is one, but the number of protrusions may be more than one, and the shape is not limited to that of corrugation. As opposed to the one described in the embodiment, the protrusion in the ridge 3 of the first fitting body 2 may be formed into a recess, and a plurality of protrusions engaging therewith may be provided to second fitting body 5. In such a case, however, a plurality of recesses must be provided to the elastic body of first fitting body 2. As in the foregoing, in an embodiment according to one aspect of the invention, as a ridge or grove and a groove or ridge formed at one ends of a first fitting body and a second fitting body are engaged with each other, the degree of overlapping is adjusted, the other ends are drawn near to each other, and the main body can be fixed to components of a bicycle having different sizes, so that it is not necessary to manufacture a plurality of kinds of such fittings for bicycle, resulting in reduced cost. In an embodiment according to another aspect of the invention, reaction generated when tightening the main body to a component of a bicycle increases force for engaging a ridge or groove formed at one end of the main body and one of grooves or ridges formed at the other end in the lengthwise direction, resulting in increased reliability at the engaged portion. Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, the scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Claims: A band-shaped fitting for bicycle (1) mounted on a component (34) of a bicycle, comprising: a first fitting body (2) having a shape fit along the component (34) and provided with a protrusion (3) or recess at its one end (9), characterized in that the first fitting body (2) fits along a part of the circumference of the component (34) and a second fitting body (5) having a shape fit along part of the outer circumference of the component (34) and provided with a plurality of recesses (6) or protrusions at its one end (17) in its lengthwise direction, said recesses or protrusions each engageable with said protrusion (3) or recess, overlapping adjustment means (3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22) for adjusting the degree of overlapping between said first fitting body (2) and said second fitting body (5) by engaging said protrusion (3) or recess with one of said recesses (6) or protrusions, and adjustment means (42) for adjusting the degree of fixing the other end (4) of said first fitting body (2) and the other end (7) of said second fitting body (5) at a smaller distance than an interval of said recesses (6) or protrusions, are provided for. A fitting for bicycle as recited in claim 1, wherein said overlapping adjustment means (3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22) includes fixing means (3, 6, 10, 15, 16) for fixing one end (9) of said first fitting body (2) and one end (17) of said second fitting body (5) by engaging said protrusions (3) or recess with one of said recesses (6) or protrusions. A fitting for bicycle as recited in claim 1 or 2, wherein said adjustment means (4, 7, 28, 42) includes fixing means (28, 42) for drawing near the other end (4) of said first fitting body (2) and the other end (7) of said second fitting body (5) to a smaller distance than an interval of said recesses (6) or protrusions. A fitting for bicycle as recited in one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said adjustment means (4, 7, 28, 42) includes screw fixing means (42) for fixing the other end (4) of said first fitting body (2) and the other end (7) of said second fitting body. A fitting for bicycle as recited in one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said fixing means (3, 6, 10, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22) includes: a hollow body (18, 20, 21, 22) forming one end (9) of said first fitting body (2) and having said protrusion (3) or recess formed therein; and a plate member (19) insertable into said hollow body (18, 20, 21, 22) forming one end (17) of said second fitting body (5) and having said plurality of recesses (6) or protrusions formed at its one surface, and said hollow body (18, 20, 21, 22) includes: a first inner portion (20) having said protrusion (3) or recess formed; an outer portion (21) formed at a position corresponding to said first inner portion (20) for pressure-contacting the outer circumference of said component (34); and a second inner portion (22) formed at a position opposing said first inner portion (20) for pressure-contacting the other surface of said plate member (19) such that one of said plurality of recesses (6) or protrusions engages with said protrusion (3) or recess. A fitting for bicycle as recited in one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said overlapping adjustment means (10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) includes: fixing means (15, 16) for fixing the position of said recess (6) or protrusion in engagement with said protrusion (3) or recess; and moving means (10, 12, 13, 14) for moving said protrusion (3) or recess toward said protrusion (6) or recess in response to reaction from said component (34); said fixing means (15, 16) preferably including a first member (16) pressure-contacting the other end (17) of said main body (2, 5); said moving means (10, 12, 13, 14) preferably including a part (10) of the other end of said main body (2, 5) having a larger thickness in the part in which said protrusion (3) is formed than the other part. A fitting for bicycle (1) as recited in one of claims 1 to 6, wherein one end (9) of the first fitting body (2) is formed as a hollow body (18) having a protrusion (3) formed in said hollow body (18); one end (17) of the second fitting body (5) is formed as a plate member insertable into said hollow body (18), and having a plurality of recesses (6) at one surface of said plate member (19) in the lengthwise direction, said recesses (6) each engageable with said protrusion (3). A fitting for bicycle as recited in claim 7, wherein the hollow body (18) is provided with an opening (12) on a side surface, and said protrusion (3) is formed at an elastic body (10) expanding in the opening (12).

Inventors: TAKEDA GORO, TAKEDA, GORO
Applicants: CATEYE CO LTD, CATEYE CO., LTD.
Application year: 1994
Main classification: B62J11
IPC codes: B62J11, B62J99